Our Year 1's were excited, despite the drizzly November rain, to visit our nearest city Norwich, with Barrington of course!

 Wroxham and Ranworth have been learning about castles, the battle of Hastings and William the conqueror. Norwich castle was built in Norman times and has had a busy and exciting history, currently being renovated. 

In Norwich we walked around the castle, spotting the battlements, arrow slits and the bridge up to the main gate.  From on top of the mound where the castle is we could spot Norwich cathedral, St Peter Mancroft church and the millennium library. We then visited the model of Norwich castle inside the top of castle mall where we could see how the castle used to look in the days of William the conqueror. Eating our snack we looked at the castle before sketching the castle.

Sarah our friend from Norwich theatre who supports our Wise About Words project in school even walked down to help us sketch!

Sensibly, we then walked down to Waterstones bookshop. Inside we were met by Lou who told us two fantastic dragon stories.

We then had a hunt around the children's section to find five 'friends' from children;s books including Elmer and the Gruffalo.

To tie in with our current value of Empathy, we bought 'The Smeds and the Smoods' for a boy who had wished for it on the Norfolk County Council Giving tree in Waterstones.#

The council have "teamed up with the folks at Waterstones Norwich to offer you the chance to buy a present for a child in care in Norfolk. The tree is covered in gift tags, each with a request from a looked after child for a book they want or a subject they want to read more about. Just pick a tag, buy a book and we'll make sure the book is gift wrapped and delivered in time for the big day!"

The children were beautifully behaved and really impressed the staff in Waterstones with their kindness and questions. We were so proud to take them to Norwich and all back in time for lunch.